Blue Moon
by Authorship
Summary: On the road, two strangers joined the exiled Princess instead of just one. The effects? Beyond comprehension. What can you do when the world seems fated for chaos? When everything around you stands on the edge of a knife? Hold tight to those you can rely on. (ABANDONED, SORRY. MESSAGE ME IF YOU WANT TO ADOPT)


**_A/N- Hey guys, I've rewritten this chapter! I felt that the story really needed another breath of life in order for me to work with it again as I really didn't want to abandon it. I'm sorry if some of you don't agree with this but I hope you'll bear with me._**

 ** _The majority of the chapter will be maintained but I felt the flow was very disjointed (this was my first ever fanfic) and I hope I can make it a bit more engaging? Idk_**

 ** _Anyway, I hope you like this new chapter 1 and please let me know in the reviews how you feel about this etc._**

 ** _Thanks,_**

 ** _GDDL xxx_**

 ** _P.S- im sorry for the inconvineence but the other chapters are now null and void as the changes affect them; please ignore them until I can get round to fixing them too! Sorry and hopefully they'll all be sorted by this time next week xx_**

 **DISCLAIMER- characters/universe aren't mines- they are 30000% the property of their creators etc.**

It was the snapping of a branch which caught Shin-ah's attention first.

He was dumbfounded at the realisation that something had managed to slip by him, coming this close to the clearing where they had stopped for lunch.

He internally scolded himself _,_ _how can I protect Yona if I'm such a pathetic scout?_

To make matters worse it was midday so the exhaustion of a midnight watch wasn't even a plausible excuse. However, now that his attention had been claimed, he turned the Blue Dragon's gaze of the source of the ruckus.

Half expecting a deer, Shin-ah's eyebrows flew up his forehead when he realised the noise had come from two figures; a boy rambling through the foliage with a taller figure following a short distance behind.

The boy, who was as yellow-clad and beaming as the relentless noon-day sun, was relatively short with startling golden hair and around Yona's age. The taller figure, whose identity was concealed by a dusty cloak and hood, moved with grace around the low branches and leaf-strewn floor. Narrowing his eyes slightly, Shin-ah peered into the dark shadow cast over the taller figure's face. _A girl_ ,Shin-ah noted, eyes assessing; for, indeed, she was taller than most men.

Shin-ah's shifting and expectant attention drew the gaze of his fellow Dragons and Hak, who all subtly moved their arms within reach of their weapons.

The Thunder Beast shuffled his feet to stand in front of Yona and Yun, his large and tanned hands moving to grasp the shaft of his weapon. Shin-ah's tongue was tied and he once more found himself stuttering out a few brief words. Too many years of forced silence still held a strong sway over him. He trusted his fellows with his life; it was his words he found himself grappling with.

He was improving though, under the compassion of Yona, the mothering of Yun, even the presence of his two fellow Dragons eased his tension.

"Travellers," Shin-ah eventually spoke. He coughed, his throat unused to speaking and swallowed, nodding in the direction of the two strangers.

Hak's attention had been captured fully now, his piercing gaze shifting from the figure of the princess to sweep the surrounding area. "Dangerous?" he muttered, not wanting to needlessly alarm yet knowing Shin-ah could hear. "How many?"

Shin-ah paused.

His eyes, under the concealment of his mask, assessed these two strangers. He shook his head slowly, conveying a wariness that Hak understood. "Two…unarmed…" he left the sentence hanging, knowing that the Wind General would understand his hesitance to completely disregard them as a threat.

Shin-ah turned his body in the direction of the pair, who, hearing the chatter of the rest of their party, had begun to make their way to the clearing. Hak followed the direction of his focus and stood with his spear. Their behaviour was finally caught by the others, Jae-ha jerking upright from his slumped recline at the foot of a tree, Kija leaping to his feet to attentively protect his Master. Yona and Yun sat straighter, peering around and looking quizzically at Hak for an explanation.

They cut quite the picture.

The two figures finally came into view (to the rest of the party) and Shin-ah took the opportunity to peer into the hood of the girl.

She was pretty, he thought. Her eyes (green-flecked gold with a black rim) dominated her face atop high cheekbones, a wide nose and pouty lips. She was tanned and her brows were strong. He liked it. She reminded him a bit of the stray cat's he'd once pet as a child. The boy looked even sunnier up close if that was possible.

Before Yona could do more than open her mouth to extend a greeting, the young lad bounced into the clearing with a joyful cry of "Food!".

The Princess stared, bewildered, at the boy whilst the girl quickly slapped a tanned hand over his mouth before he could say anything else.

"Sorry about that! He didn't mean anything by it, he's just hungry?" The girl's apology ended almost like a question; Shin-ah thought she sounded just as hungry as her companion. Her voice was husky and had a strange accent on the 's's and 'r's. Well, Shin-ah thought it was weird. He wouldn't really know.

The girl's hood was pulled back as she continued to apologise, exposing her thick dark gold hair and tanned face. Shin-ah wasn't sure if it was her accent or her face that made an expression of surprise dominate everyone else's faces. _Maybe_ , he wondered, _they were surprised by how tall she was_.

"Zeno," she continued, "That was silly; you should know better than to talk to strangers like that! Where are your manners, ay?" She sounded almost maternal and the boy, Zeno, continued grinning as he half-shouted a "Hello!" to Yona in response. The Princess somehow found herself smiling hesitantly back at the boy; he was just too cheerful.

Hak recovered first, stepping forward. "What do you want, Strangers?" Shin-ah couldn't help but notice how tightly he clasped his weapon, which was already half-raised threateningly. Yona spoke for the first time, evidently feeling that this strange pair was relatively harmless, she stood up and carefully brushing off the yellowing grass that clung to her skirts, and carefully made her way to the front of the group. "You're hungry? Won't you join us? We mean you no harm if you do not wish us harm."

The boy-Zeno, Shin-ah thought the lady called him- who had been watching with a gentle smile, a slightly unsettling look of wisdom on his youthful face- flashed another brilliant grin at Yona's words, skipping forward and plonking himself down next to Yun. The girl sighed gratefully and moved forward towards the crimson-haired Princess. She smiled, exposing white teeth, and ducked her head, towering over Yona by a good five inches.

"Sorry about the intrusion, but we've walked all day and he's not really one for the road." she spoke softly and cast a fond look at her companion, who had begun to chatter to Yun (who couldn't get a word in edge-ways).

"He's Zeno," she said, jerking her head in the boy's direction, "And my name is Zlatna Zora but please, call me Zora." She smiled again and Shin-ah wondered if she was a noble; no commoner he'd seen so far had such good teeth. Yona smiled in return and her amethyst eyes sparkled warmly.

Yona introduced everyone as she guided Zora over to the fire; Jae-ha, who was once more making himself comfortable, nodded with a calculating look on his lazy face when introduced. Kija moved closer in obvious agitation, sitting as near to Yona as he could get, boxed in as she was by the two new acquaintances and Yun.

The Thunder Beast leant, still standing, against the tree behind the quartet at the fire and directly behind Yona. His hands were still firmly clenched around his spear and his expression was ferociously fixed on the girl, Zora. The party could practically feel the waves of distrust emanating from the Wind General like a black cloud. At least, until Yona turned to fix a feral glare at Hak at his unfriendliness; the coal-haired warrior merely gazed back with false innocence, much to Yona's ire.

Shin-ha himself stood a moment longer before sinking back to the ground, plucking Ao from his fur. Absentmindedly scratching her stomach, the Blue Dragon tried to ignore the niggling in the back of his mind that he was missing something. His eyes, hidden as they were, were constantly moving around, determined not to be surprised again, although he did study the two strangers quite a lot. The girl, as now that she was closer Shin-ah could tell she was probably his age, no more than 20, turned her head from the conversation between Yona, Yun and Zeno (who had finally paused for breath, giving Yun the chance to speak) and looked at Shin-ah straight on.

Shin-ah, to his own credit, didn't flinch from her startling gaze - after all, were his own eyes not the most disturbing? - Instead of choosing to sit unmoved as he always did.

The girl's-Zora's- gaze dropped to his hands where her expression lit up upon seeing Ao cutely squirm as Shin-ah pet her head.

This reaction, this adoration, was customary (especially from girls) when people saw Ao.

What Zora did next was unexpected.

She leant forward, Shin-ah watching her curiously behind his mask, Hak's watchful eyes trained on her back, and then… she spoke.

The language was nothing like he'd ever imagined, a rustling whisper that perfectly complemented her strange accent. The words were undoubtedly human, but they were so completely new that this girl may as well have been speaking in the whisper of the trees, or the language of the bubbling water, or even communicating in the same soft squeaks of Ao, for all that any of them understood her.

She spoke softly, quickly, the words an incomprehensive stream which somehow captured Ao's attention, who surprisingly began to chatter in retaliation.

Suddenly, Ao sprung from his cupped hands and scampered over to Zora, who continued to coo – that babyish, adoring tone could be nothing else - and stroke Ao's protruding cheeks.

Everyone had frozen.

Even Zeno, who had likely heard this language before, had paused in his movements, listening intently. The moment was fractured by Jae-ha's lewd complaint that animals had all the luck with women; why couldn't he have a woman to speak to him in a husky tone and stroke him, breaking the spell and unfreezing everyone. Kija blushed crimson and glared at the Green-haired pirate whilst Hak rolled his eyes at his immaturity. The Thunder Beast's eyes however, remained fixed with flinty suspicion on the golden-haired girl.

Zora and Ao remained happily cuddling, the girl rubbing her cheek against the chipmunks. Shin-ah awkwardly folded his hands together, the palms feeling empty without Ao to stroke.

Yun, ever eager to learn, leant forwards to capture Zora's attention, who reluctantly turned from the bundle of fluff in her hands. "Zora…what language was that? I have never heard anything like it!" Zora smiled happily, Ao now playfully gnawing her thumb.

"Ahh, well, that's not too surprising as my home is beyond the mountains, in the east. It's merely known as the Shepot na Slŭntseto or, in this tongue, Whispers of the Sun. it's one of four languages spoken, but a speciality of my clan; the Zlatna clan was once known as the clan of Gold." She smiled at Yun's intense look of interest and laughed when she saw how much food Zeno had eaten whilst he was distracted.

"You've travelled, then? To get this far? How old are you?" as if suddenly realising how presumptuous that was to ask a lady, the pretty youth blushed and scrambled to apologise, which Zora brushed off with a lazy smirk. "Do you know many languages then?" he asked, choosing a safer topic. At this Zeno burst in, unable to contain himself for long, "Zora and Zeno know many languages, Zeno and Zora travel a lot!"

Yona's eyes sparkled with interest; the young lady almost sounded of Noble birth and Shin0ah knew that no one had missed her reference to the past tense.

These two, it seemed, had hidden depth.

Yona opened her mouth to speak when she turned in surprise to Kija, who had just swiftly risen to his feet. The White Dragon was staring around the campfire, his crystal blue eyes tainted with frustration and his gaze flickered uncertainly between Jae-ah and Shin-ah. Catching Jae-ha's concealed glance, Shin-ah rose alongside the ex-pirate, who reached over and gripped the ivory sleeve of their 'brother', dragging him behind them as they walked into the trees.

Jae-ha, in a futile attempt to pass off Kija's strange behaviour, tossed a charming smile at the rest of their party- "Sorry, Kija noticed we're low on firewood!"

The stack of logs beside Yun told otherwise.

 _Kija is always so dignified…unless there's a bug around…Something is bothering him…_

Under the relative privacy of the canopy of leaves, Kija lowered his face closer to his 'brothers' and spoke in a low, anxious tone; "Something feels strange. I'm not sure what it is but I feel like I am missing something… could it be the Yellow Dragon?" he wondered. Jae-ha, for once passing up on the chance to tease Kija, tilted his head, his expression as smooth and relaxed as ever. "I feel it too… but it feels different that it did for the two of you."

Shin-ah frowned, and hesitantly opened his mouth, "…awakening?" he asked. Perhaps, they had missed the Yellow Dragon, or something had happened to him and they were somehow feeling it through their bond?

Maybe…

 _Well_ , Shin-ah mused, _the Zeno lad was very, very yellow_.

… _but, if Zeno was our Brother, why did he not awaken as we did? Why did he not react to Yona's presence?..._

 _They must have missed something._

Kija, scowling slightly in frustration, spun around and strode back to the fire. "What's wrong, Kija?" Yona asked, her soft violet eyes dancing with concern, reflecting the dancing flames before her. Kija, flushed slightly under her attention, as usual, threw a considering glance of the boy who was happily eating away without concern.

His next words caused Jae-ha to roll his eyes at his rashness and Hak and Yona to sit to attention.

"I feel the presence of The Yellow Dragon."


End file.
